Trump Defends Kavanaugh When His Own Accusers Are Mentioned

NEW YORK (CNN) — President Donald Trump said allegations of sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh “affect” him because he has face similar allegations “many times.”

“People want fame. They want money,” Trump said speaking at a news conference in New York on Wednesday.

“When you say does it affect me in terms of my thinking with respect to Judge Kavanaugh? Absolutely. Because I’ve had it many times,” Trump told reporters at the news conference amid the United Nations General Assembly.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, at least 15 women accused Trump of misbehavior ranging from sexual harassment and sexual assault to lewd behavior around women.

Many of those women came forward in the wake of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape that was released in October 2016 in which he is caught saying on a hot mic: “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything … Grab them by the p***y. You can do anything.”

But the White House — through press secretary Sarah Sanders and others — has dismissed all the allegations against him as old news that had been litigated during the campaign.

An inordinate amount of press, celebrities, media, pundits and politicians called the news conference everything from “bizarre” to “rambling” to “strange.”

Trump on Wednesday claimed he has been accused of sexual misconduct by four or five women “who got paid a lot of money to make up stories about me.”

He said he’s never even met the women — one was a People Magazine correspondent on assignment reporting from Mar-a-Largo.

The far-ranging news conference also touched on trade with China, that he had evidence China meddled in the election, “fake news” and his talk at the UN where a large part of the delegation laughed when he lauded his achievements as president.

Today, the president said he was okay with the laughter because”They weren’t laughing at me, they were laughing with me.” (BuzzFeed News spoke to a number of diplomats who insisted they were laughing at the president, not with.)

While he also said he staunchly believes in Brett Kavanaugh, he also said he would be open to replacing him. He also said if he picked a female nominee it would be possible they would also be accused of sexual assault.

The president also criticized the democrats saying if George Washington were alive today, they would find fault with him “and vote against him.”

Trump said he might also postpone a meeting he has set for tomorrow with deputy FBI chief Rod Rosenstein where many felt the president was going to demand his resignation.